Labour council removes trade union facilities


A Carmarthenshire County Unison member

On 1 April Carmarthenshire Labour-led council will be removing the trade union secondments for Unison, GMB and Unite.

Carmarthenshire County Council was already one of the worst in Wales for paid trade union secondments.

Unison has by far the most members and has one full-time secondment. Two local authority Unison branches adjacent to Carmarthenshire have four trade union secondments and another Unison branch which is much smaller has two full-time secondments!

This is clearly a political decision to stifle the Unison branch’s opposition to the £30 million in cuts being implemented by the council.

Our branch has always opposed all cuts and has never been shy of criticising the council for implementing the Con-Dem cuts passed on by a passive Labour government in the Welsh Assembly.

Branch officers seeking reasonable time off risk harassment and intimidation. Managers will quote the needs of the service when not granting time off.

We are calling on the labour and trade union movement to support our campaign. Please go to this link: http://www.change.org/petitions/carmarthenshire-council-labour-leader-kevin-madge-reinstate-trade-union-secondments

Many Unison branch members are already asking: “What is the point of New Labour?” Most would support disaffiliating from this pro-big business party who put themselves and their careers before the people who elected them.